Egyptian actor Hussein Fahmi on Monday said he was officially submitting his resignation as the head of the Cairo International Film Festival, listing blackmail and lack of support as the reasons.

Fahmi described a lack of financial support for the festival by the ministry of culture, according to the daily Al Hayat.

Fahmi sent his resignation to Minister of Culture Farouq Hosni, and reiterated that he had tried to mount an international festival in top form.

Commenting on a blackmail attempt he recently faced, Fahmi said: “A fraud sent me a letter and tried to blackmail me, mostly by phone. He continued his efforts while I was busy with the 25th Cairo Festival, which prompted me to notify the security authorities. As planned by the security authorities, I went to meet the fraud, whom I'd never met before, in a certain place. I carried a briefcase that looked as if contained some money. The security men recorded the conversation between me and the fraud, who was caught while trying to receive the case, in which there was no money. The criminal was armed with unlicensed weapon.”

Earlier, the criminal claimed that he had a videocassette of Fahmi making love to one a female star and that the cassette was being circulated in the markets.

Nevertheless, investigations revealed that the cassette contained only a film called Sayyidat Al Aqmar (Lady of the Moons) in which Fahmi costarred 25 years ago along with the actress Nahed Yusri.

The film was banned from the big screen because it included various steamy scenes – Albawaba.com